If you are under 35 and buying your first home in the Netherlands, you pay no transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) in 2026. That is, as long as the home costs no more than €555,000. Go one euro over and you pay 2% on the full amount. On a €560,000 house that is €11,200.
The threshold is the same across the country. House prices are not. So in mid-October 2026 we went through our own listings to see how many homes for sale in each city fall under €555,000. Two caveats first. These are asking prices, and the final price can end up higher, which is exactly what makes homes just under the limit tricky. And this is a snapshot of what is on the market now, not a record of sales.
The rules in brief
The Dutch Tax Administration lists four conditions for the first-time buyer exemption (startersvrijstelling). All four must apply:
- You are at least 18 and under 35 on the day you sign the deed of transfer at the notary. That is the handover date, not the date of the purchase agreement.
- You will live in the home yourself, for the long term.
- You have never used the exemption before. Having owned a home before is fine; having had the exemption before is not.
- The home is worth no more than €555,000 at that moment.
If one of those fails but you still move in yourself, you pay 2%. Anyone buying to let, or buying for a child, has paid 8% since 1 January 2026. The Dutch government sets it all out.
Six in ten homes for sale qualify
Our listings hold almost 68,000 homes for sale by private sellers. The median asking price is €489,000 and 61% are priced at €555,000 or less. For apartments it is 70%, for terraced houses 69%. Corner houses come in at 62%, semi-detached houses at 54%, and 42% of detached houses still fall under the limit.
So buying below the threshold is perfectly normal nationally. But that average hides big differences between cities.
City by city: from 35% to 81%
Below are fourteen large municipalities. The last column shows how many terraced houses stay under the limit, since that is the type many first-time buyers planning a family are after.
| Municipality | Median asking price | Homes up to €555,000 | Terraced houses up to €555,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amstelveen | €695,000 | 35% | 2% |
| Amsterdam | €625,000 | 42% | 17% |
| Amersfoort | €585,000 | 46% | 37% |
| Haarlem | €575,000 | 49% | 24% |
| Utrecht | €535,000 | 56% | 35% |
| The Hague | €475,000 | 62% | 27% |
| Eindhoven | €500,000 | 62% | 62% |
| Apeldoorn | €445,000 | 64% | 90% |
| Rotterdam | €425,000 | 72% | 67% |
| Tilburg | €432,500 | 73% | 82% |
| Enschede | €389,000 | 75% | 87% |
| Leeuwarden | €375,000 | 77% | 87% |
| Venlo | €365,000 | 80% | 91% |
| Groningen | €349,000 | 81% | 83% |
In Groningen, Venlo and Leeuwarden well over three quarters of the market qualifies. For most first-time buyers there, the threshold barely matters. In Amsterdam and Amstelveen the median asking price is already above it, and in Amstelveen there is hardly a terraced house for sale under €555,000.
The Hague and Utrecht: a flat yes, a house hardly
The Hague stands out. At first glance it looks manageable: 62% of homes are under the threshold, and 70% of apartments. But only 27% of terraced houses in The Hague stay below it. Utrecht shows the same split (68% of apartments, 35% of terraced houses), and so do Haarlem and Amersfoort. If you want a house with a garden in those cities, chances are you will be paying transfer tax after all.
Rotterdam and Eindhoven sit in the middle, with roughly two thirds of terraced houses under the limit. In Apeldoorn, Tilburg and Enschede it is more than eight in ten.
What does €555,000 buy you?
The same budget gets you a very different home depending on where you look. Taking only terraced houses listed under the threshold, the middle one measures 86 m² in Amsterdam, 84 m² in Haarlem and 87 m² in Utrecht. In Rotterdam it is 113 m², in Groningen 111 m² and in Venlo 139 m². For apartments under the limit the gap is smaller: 64 m² in Amsterdam, and between 70 and 85 m² in most other big cities.
For a first-time buyer in Amsterdam, then, the exemption mostly means an apartment of around 65 m², or a small family house if you can find one.
The trap just below the limit
About 7% of homes nationwide are listed between €500,000 and €555,000. In Eindhoven and Utrecht it is 10 to 11%. Those are the homes where things get tense. What counts is the price in the purchase agreement, not the asking price. Bid on a €535,000 house and win at €560,000, and you lose the exemption and owe €11,200. Those last €5,000 over the line then really cost you €16,200.
So before you bid, work out what it costs you to end up over the line. According to the tax administration, these count towards the value:
- A garden, shed or garage that belongs to the home.
- Leasehold (erfpacht), where you own the building but pay ground rent for the land: the capitalised ground rent is added to the price. In cities with a lot of leasehold, such as Amsterdam, a €520,000 apartment can end up over the limit because of it.
- A parking space or storage unit bought separately later. Buy something belonging to the home within twelve months and go over €555,000 combined, and the exemption is withdrawn after all.
Buying together
If you buy with a partner, age is checked per person but the threshold applies to the whole home. An example: you are 31, your partner is 36, and together you buy a €480,000 house. You pay nothing on your half; your partner pays 2% on theirs, which comes to €4,800. If you are both under 35 and buy a €600,000 house, neither of you gets the exemption, even though each share is only €300,000.
Watch the birthday too: turn 35 before the deed is signed and you are too late. With new-build homes, where the handover can come months after signing, that is worth discussing with the notary in advance.
Keep looking
On Buurtje.nl you can search any city with a maximum price, and a saved search sends new homes under €555,000 straight to your inbox. The mortgage calculator shows whether that amount fits what you can borrow. All homes for sale in the Netherlands are on this page.
Read next:
